Infosys set for its second start-up acquisition

India’s second largest IT services company Infosys, not long after its first investment on a start-up, is now all set for its second start-up investment this year. This time it is in a firm that develops cloud-based air quality detectors.

According to the senior official at the Bengaluru-company, the investment is in line with Infosys’ strategy of providing support for start-ups that are innovative in new generation technologies such as internet of things (IoT), machine learning and artificial intelligence. The executive, however, declined to divulge further details about the company and the quantum of investment.

After assuming the charge of CEO & MD of Infosys in August last year, Vishal Sikka, a former top executive at German enterprise software maker SAP, is looking at multiple ways to engage with the software start-up ecosystem across the world. Last month, he announced expanding the innovation fund five-fold to $500 million. Consequently, he had also announced to dedicate half of the fund for investment in innovative start-up companies in India.

With regard to the current acquisition, “there is a small company we are investing in that makes an air quality detector that you can just drop in stores, in hospitals, in mines and it detects air quality and it is connected to the cloud and you can stream the data” Sikka said in an interview last week. The name of the startup has not been disclosed.

“We will do things of that nature and we think that the information technology needs of the world require a different type of mindset for startups. More and more the innovations that businesses are looking for are going to come from start-up companies,” Sikka said at a recent analyst. The current deal is expected to close by April.

Wipro, Infosys, TCS have all understood that “linear” growth models for outsourcing no longer holds for the future, hence, they need to look at “exponential” growth models through innovation, said Martin Haemmig, a global expert on corporate venturing.